Escaped prisoner Robert Vick turned himself into authorities to avoid the bitter cold on Monday. Wind chill readings were 20 below zero Monday in Lexington.Kentucky Department of Corrections via The Associated Press

An escaped Kentucky prisoner turned himself in to authorities Monday to avoid extremely cold temperatures caused by the polar vortex.

Robert Vick escaped from a minimum security facility in Lexington on Sunday, The Associated Press reported, but as the deep freeze pushed temperatures into the low single digits on Monday, he walked into a motel and asked the clerk to call the police.

Local television station LEX 18 spoke with Maurice King, who manages the Sunset Motel where Vick was taken back into custody.

"He said can you call the law on me? and I kind of looked at him I thought he was crazy or something," said King. "I don't even think the dispatcher believed me."

Vick had been serving a six-year sentence for burglary and a five-year sentence for criminal possession of a forged instrument at Blackburn Correctional Facility. He was sent back to the facility after being examined by paramedics at the University of Kentucky Hospital.

Lisa Lamb, spokeswoman for the state Corrections Department, told Kentucky.com Vick would have been wearing only his prison-issued khaki pants, shirt and jacket when he escaped. Wind chill readings dropped to 20 below zero in Lexington on Monday.

Vick would have been eligible for parole in March, but CBS reports he is now expected to face additional charges of escape.